The Homemaker Saves Money: Little Harvests

 

Thursday:  Yesterday at the grocery, I noted that 12 packs of Activia yogurt were just $3.28.  I thought this would be a perfect breakfast for the kids with toast this morning and they all seemed to enjoy it.  I had to give Caleb his dairy free yogurt of course, but it was a whole lot cheaper to feed the others regular dairy milk yogurts.

The children went outdoors to play this morning.  They pulled the wagons about the yard, set up bowling and played with that.  I walked around the garden area and harvest two more tomatoes and the seed head off a bit of dill.

The children went home for lunch today.  Katie is gone for the day so I dug about and pulled out some hot pocket type things from the school lunch program.  That and carrots made up our lunch.  We'll eat leftovers tonight of the Spoonbread Ham supper and the Chicken Wild Rice casserole. There's not enough of either one to serve the whole family.  There's just about enough for three.  I'll just reheat and make new sides to go with these dishes.

I fussed about my small tomato harvest this year but told John that in hindsight I shouldn't complain.  For the past five days we've eaten fresh tomatoes at our supper meal, and they have been delicious.  I have three ripening in the kitchen now and two more on the vines.  When I was watering this evening, I noted that I have blooms on three more plants.  I'm hoping the others might put on a new flush of blooms now that I've harvested the tomatoes.  I don't know enough about tomatoes to tell you if that is possible.  

In other news the white eggplant has one tiny egg-shaped eggplant on it that is growing.  The second bloom disappeared and the other two have done nothing but grow.  

John put the planters together earlier this week.  He's told me to get soil for them and plant them up. 

Three Rivers Homestead has already announced her annual August challenge, "Every bit counts."  Her goal each August is to can or preserve something to feed her family in the year ahead and her motto is, obviously, every bit counts.  She is a big proponent of doing something every day no matter how small that will provide sustenance for the household over the cold months ahead.  

Oh.  I have a new cat, apparently.  Bess came over to borrow dry mustard and asked if her cat, Sassy had been staying here.  I told her I see cats hunting all of the time here, but I had no idea if it was Sassy or not.  She said, "Sassy was sitting on your steps..."  "Well, that explains why Rufus' food keeps getting eaten.  I thought he'd just stopped being so picky."  Bess told me that since they have so many cats if Sassy wanted to stay here it was all right with her if it was all right with us.  Sassy has already been spayed.  I petted her and asked her if she'd like to stay here and be my cat and keep Rufus company.  It would suit me just fine, especially since Sassy is about four or five years old and not a kitten.  I'm quite happy to have another cat so we'll see how this goes.  We might not suit her but we then again, lack of competition might suit her very well indeed.

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Friday:  Another day.  I made bread this morning and breakfast.  

After breakfast, I took time to remake our bed.  John did laundry and hung parts of it on the line to dry, which was good, as we've plenty of hot weather and sunshine and a heavy warm westerly breeze.

I went to run errands on my own.  Another trip to the grocery store, this time to fill in with those things we are low or out of: deodorant for John, baking powder, juice for Caleb, cabbage, wax paper, toilet paper, paper towels, maple syrup.  No impulsive spending and the total topped over $100 again.  It feels like we average about $200 a week if I go anywhere near a grocery store at all.  I'm disgusted by it; grateful I do have a deep pantry and freezer.  Sick of it all, too.  

Thought I'd pick up take out for lunch but the grocery store put an end to that fine fancy.  I won't even tell you how hard I had to talk to myself to get up and make dinner tonight, either.  I pulled together a decent enough meal. I made rice, stir fried broccoli and carrots (school lunch items) and reheated the Mongolian Beef Roast (thawed leftovers from a previous meal a month of more ago).   I bought green onions today to sprinkle over the meat dish.  It tasted pretty well and was a mixture of use what you have and inexpensive foods items.  

Started Frugal bootcamp last night by reading Caroline French Benton's Living on A Little.  It's a book  from the turn of the century that Carolyn had told me about and then kindly sent me a hardcopy of.  I looked online and this author has other books on Amazon in print as well.  

I thought it would be fun not to read all the usual things when I'm doing bootcamp this year but to focus instead on such books as these.  They didn't have real convenience items as we do now, though the current book does speak of buying bread at the bakery.  They mostly cooked from scratch and worked hard.  I figure that's pretty much what I do.  I want someone to remind me of all that I can do and yes, to romanticize the work I do as well, because let's face it, it can be tedious, it can be difficult and anxiety inducing, and it's always something that must go on and on.  I want someone to remind me that I love being a homemaker and this old book is doing just that.   

I plan to take up two of Grace Livingston Hill's novels (or three) that focus heavy on the homemaking aspect too, such as Honor Girl and Recreations.   I have a new to me M.F.K. Fisher book that I'd like to read (hers are always so economical in nature) and a vintage book on housekeeping.  Forget all the modern day hoo hah about how to save.  Tell me how my great grandmothers did it...That's information worth learning all over again.

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Received most of the items I get on Amazon Subscribe and Save today.  I check every month to ensure that I need the items that are routine shipping and cancel those we won't require.  I also check prices on those items that are going to be shipped to be sure I'm still getting the best price.  Sometimes, I find I am not and that means I will cancel that shipment as well.  Staying on top of these orders is the real key to making sure I'm getting the savings I think I am.

Saturday:  How to save money today?  I sent Katie to do errands and gave her only as much money as was required to pick up the one item.  No impulse purchases.  

John and I went out to lunch.  It was really good and very reasonable.  No leftovers today but then again, it was inexpensive enough that it didn't matter.

Used the last two chicken thighs that I cooked earlier in last week for Chicken Wild Rice casserole.  Those two thighs didn't look like nearly enough meat to feed three hearty servings of chicken salad but by the time I'd added in celery and dried cranberries (from school lunch program), toasted pecans and halved grapes it was more than enough.  It made an excellent supper with Croissants.

Not sure why, but I received a Stitch Fix.  I had cancelled this shipment, but it came anyway.  There was only one item I wanted from this shipment and so I'd decided to let this go and just order the one blouse.  Never mind, I have the one blouse now and will return all the other items.

Sunday:  Today was our Quik Trip stop after church.  I'd told John we'd limit ourselves to once a month and it's as well. He picks up snacks and drinks for the grandchildren and Katie.  We generally treat ourselves with something, too.  It's not a huge expense, but it's extra, and therefore to be limited to the status of a treat and not a routine stop.

Home for our usual Taylor's Sunday dinner with Gramma.  No one complains over the pretty much basic menu of Chicken and boxed Mac and Cheese.  I usually throw in a side dish of another sort but the first two items are things I know the children will definitely eat.

Stopped at Post Office and sent back the Stitch Fix items I knew I wouldn't be keeping.

A few shipments ago, I received a pair of pants I really liked but they were just a wee bit too small. I just knew if I watched my diet, I could trim enough wait to get those pants to fit.  I put them on this morning and wore them to church.  They were snug, but they zipped and fastened.  I'll keep trying to drop a few more pounds but I'm certainly encouraged that these fit better.

This afternoon, after my nap, I felt compelled to go into the kitchen and look in the fridge. I discovered I had roughly a half pound of ground beef that I hadn't used up.  I thought of a dish Mama used to make and while I didn't have the exact ingredients, I did have some that were close enough to mimic the meal.  I went to the pantry and found a box of Hamburger Helper that Katie had brought in a few weeks ago.  It was a Tomato Basil Penne dish.

I brought that out and added to my browned hamburger and onion, then read on down the box.  I noted that it suggested one might add in some diced tomato and fresh basil leaves and top with Parmesan cheese and hot pepper flakes.  I didn't have any canned tomatoes open and since I am working my way through the last case lot of 29-ounce cans we bought at Kroger last July (which expired last August, but they are perfectly fine), I didn't want to open such a big can.  I looked over at the small bowl on my counter and I had two small tomatoes from the garden.  Diced that equaled about 1 cup. I had a few basil leaves I'd dried, so I crushed those and added them in, too.  I set out the hot pepper flakes and Parmesan on the counter. 

I didn't stop there exactly.  This was a strongly tomato pasta and not the sort that Caleb was accustomed to eating.  There was a single portion of mac and cheese left after lunch, so when he declared his hunger, I heated that and put a little of the tomato-y pasta over it.  He was so happy with that dish, and he ate it every bit then asked for more.  I was happy to use up that small portion of leftovers.

Frugal Fail:  I ordered face moisturizer some weeks ago and wondered why it hadn't arrived.  In searching the order out, I discovered that somehow another address had auto-filled in the ship to address.  No clue why that would have happened since I never use that pay source for anything sent to this person.  It is to someone I know but the chances of getting the items back are zip.  SIGH.  So, I'm out the two containers of moisturizer and now must re-order.  

Monday:  I pulled out what I thought were nuts to toast for the chicken salad Saturday evening and it proved to be a sweet topping meant for a sweet potato casserole.  Since we generally have half with marshmallows and the other half with the Sunday Sweet potato topping, I never need quite a whole recipe.  However, I often find it tasty to use as streusel for muffins or a quick topping for plain cake.  I took note of the fact that I had that topping and went on with my recipe with plain pecans.

Today, I cleared the fridge and took inventory.  Two or the four peaches I had were gone.  Did someone else eat them or determine they weren't worth keeping and toss them?  Quite possibly.  I might have something set aside but it never really means it's set aside.  Anyway, I found two peaches, pared them, cut away the bruised portion and diced the flesh fine.  I made up my favorite nut bread recipe, skipped the nuts, and added in the peaches instead. I pulled out that Sunday Sweet Potato topping and sprinkled that over my batter.  I think this should taste quite good and it will be something different than the usual banana nut bread that we always seem to eat.  later:  found them in a drawer...So I still have two peaches to use up!

Then I found about 1.5 cups of cherries that I hadn't eaten.  No one in the household seems to like cherries except myself, for just eating out of hand.  These were beginning to look a bit past their best, so I pitted them.  I want to share a little secret on how I went about pitting them.  I used a metal reusable straw and punctured the blossom end of the fruit then I pushed the straw through the stem end.  This went amazingly quick.  I did find the straw clogged, but since we do have small pipe cleaners on hand, I was able to unblock it with ease.  

I mixed up my favorite 1 bowl, 1 egg cake recipe, added in almond extract instead of vanilla and just at the very end, I blended in the chopped cherries.  Of course, they colored the cake, but I rather expected they were going to.   I'll let you know how this tasted after we've had a bit of it.

So, from two peaches and a small number of cherries, I've managed two baked items that will serve us all at least twice or even three times over each item.

Sam just ran in with two bags of groceries: broccoli, carrots (!), celery, fruit cups, juice boxes, V-8 juice in a can, hamburgers, bbq sandwiches, hot pockets and burritos, pizza slices, breakfast biscuits, strudels, doughnuts, granola bars, pop tarts, etc.  There were four apples and four oranges, as well.  I am always grateful for this unexpected bounty to boost what we have on hand.

Tuesday:  Remember those two peaches I found in the crisper drawer?  I peeled and diced this morning then froze, along with a whole banana that had gotten quite ripe.  Those will do for smoothies in the next day or so.

I made a batch of flour tortillas today.  My purpose was to save a trip into town, even though I really do need to go to post mail.  Never mind.  This definitely saved me a trip to the store which meant no extra spending.  We have plenty of food in this house.  Plenty.  I might prefer crunchy taco shells, but soft flour tortillas will work just as well.

When John came back from mowing Sam's today, he brought in a familiar looking blue plastic bag packed full of...you guessed it, school lunch program items.  This was a bag a neighbor had brought to Sam because they didn't need it.  Sam, having a much smaller space to store food than I do, sent it here. I unpacked it and added to our pantry/fridge/freezer.  More carrots, broccoli, celery, oranges, apples, juice, fruit cups, sandwiches, pizza pockets, string cheese, etc.

We had Barbecue sandwiches today.  I served them up with pickles from the fridge and the last of a bag of fries I'd found in the freezer vegetable bin the other day.  I fried them, though I do hate to fry because it feels wasteful to use oil in such a manner.  However, I didn't want to use the oven, so we'll take the savings of running the AC harder and use up that small portion of oil instead.

Went back to the pantry to add items and marvel at how very much we have.  I have accumulated a gallon bag of raisins and another of craisins.  We never run out of packets of chips anymore.  Cereal bars and cereal cups, juice boxes, fruit cups and applesauce cups.  

I've been putting broccoli in the freezer each week and also using some fresh.  Of course, we've lots of celery and carrots.  I keep saying I need to start using up carrots, but I've made no move thus far.  I'm putting out fruit cups for breakfast and lunches.  We're eating some of the entree items every day, but I need to make use of those cheese sticks, too.  I've read that string cheese doesn't melt as nicely as regular mozzarella, but I'll bet my family would love to eat cheese sticks with marinara...that would make a nice lunch.

Some things aren't as nice to eat.  The bean and cheese burritos are nothing to write home about, but I think I could serve them as enchiladas with a cheese sauce and rice.  I'd bet those would go over well.

Most items though are just fine.  They are not the sort of things I'd typically buy but they are tasty, and we can most certainly fill tummies with them.

We do use them steadily all along but it's really an abundance. Never mind.   Next week is likely to be our last such delivery as school starts the following week.  It's been a huge bonus blessing and we'll reap the benefits of it all through the end of the year.  

I ordered one adult Christmas gift today, July 25, and three gifts for children.    I need to concentrate on adult gifts which tend to be a bit higher.  I need to inventory what I have for the children and determine what I need to add to those few items I do have.  

When I checked out at Stitch Fix yesterday, they offered to send me a completely new box without the styling fee.  It's meant to arrive on Friday.  We'll see how it works out.  I still have my account on hold for the rest of the year.

While we were outdoors this morning, I was happy to note that I had fresh blooms on the coreopsis, found two tiny Balsam plants blooming on the drip tray area under the faucet, which I pulled up carefully and replanted in the pot with the others.  At the shed, I found the wildflower blooming again (no clue what it is), so I deadheaded it well and dumped all of those seeds into the flower bed.  There I found balsam, a zinnia and some Rudbeckia coming up.   I planted those seeds months ago.

As I went to prepare supper tonight, I had one of those "Oh no!" discoveries.  Last week when I'd slipped away from home on my own (Friday I think it was), I picked up some coleslaw mix and wonton wrappers thinking I'd make egg rolls.   Today I pulled open the crisper drawer to get out lettuce for the supper tacos and discovered the two bags looking a bit worse for wear.  They still had five days to go for their 'best by' date, but you'd never prove it on looks alone.  I contemplated them for a long time and then decided it was now or never.  I was pretty sure if I put off at least cooking the filling, I'd surely forget it all again and really would lose the item.  So, I put the cabbage mix on with some onions, garlic and grated ginger to cook while I made taco meat.   It's now packed up in the fridge and tomorrow I shall take the cold cooked cabbage mixture and fill the wonton wrappers.

Wednesday:  June 2023 USDA Food plans and costs: for a family of our size, 3 adults and one toddler they estimate spending at $896.70.  In May 2023, costs $895.10.  For June of 2022: $966.10

All of these were estimated costs for eating on a Thrifty food plan.  Admittedly, I spend less than they estimate for even the thrifty plan.   But do any of you feel you've spent less for food this Spring than you did last?  I can say assuredly that I didn't!  In fact, I estimated my spending per month last year at about $550 for a family our size and I've been targeting trying to hit at about that this year without any success.  I'd estimate I am averaging $650 a month which is $100 more than I spent last year, and we're not eating different foods and have even cut spending in many areas in order to fix myself in at that rate of spending.   

This morning, I took sausage biscuits from the freezer to heat in the microwave.  Again, school lunch program items.  I'm trying hard to be mindful of using up those food items, not just the chips, juice boxes and fruit being sent.  

I took the slaw mix I cooked last night and made perhaps 2 dozen egg rolls, then I took the remainder of the second package of wonton wrappers and some of the cheese sticks we've been given and made Pepperoni Pizza sticks to dip in marinara.  I believe I got 18 of those.   Most of those are now in the freezer.  I tried one each of the rolls and I think Katie had a couple of the egg rolls.  I had mine with a can of V-8 and followed them up with a small bunch of grapes and called that lunch.  

When John came in from mowing our yard, I made him a sandwich, served it with grapes on the side.  He has a tall, iced glass of apple juice waiting on him when he comes from the shower.  I expect he'll need that extra boost of the juice to give him a wee bit of energy for the afternoon.

In the slow cooker, I've got three very large breasts with a bottle of Ceasar Salad dressing mix poured over it.  I have out a new to me shape of pasta that is hollow but is in a corkscrew shape.  I'm debating having that with some of the Ceasar chicken tonight.  I'm expecting to put away roughly half that meat for another meal.   I'll likely make up a salad and perhaps make some croutons in the toaster oven for the salad.

note:  This was the blandest chicken dish...I was so disappointed and no matter how much more seasoning I added it just wouldn't get off the bland scale. I made up a salad with pepperoncini because that plate needed something sharp to give some flavor.  I used a good quality Ceasar salad dressing, so it wasn't that.  

The pasta shape was Trottole and I think it would have been wonderful with a really saucy dish, which this chicken dish also didn't turn out to be even though I purposely removed half the shredded chicken and put only half in the sauce.